Two years after the launch of a grassroots revolt against the Penn State board of trustees members that fired Joe Paterno, a new alumni movement has emerged to give voters in this spring's election for three alumni seats a slate of endorsed candidates.

It's called Upward State, and it's goal is to offer a student-focused alternative to what its leaders on Tuesday called "the narrow and negative agenda of those recently elected to fill alumni seats on the board."

Upward State leaders contend they will offer voters a third way this spring.

The fledgling movement - with strong ties to three past leaders of the Penn State Alumni Association - will be represented on the 2014 ballot by Dan Cocco, a former chairman of THON, Penn State's student-led dance marathon; Julie Harris McHugh, a retired pharmaceutical executive; and Matt Schuyler, the human resources chief for Hilton Worldwide.

The candidates, part of a 32-member field vying for three seats to be filled by alumni balloting this spring, were introduced Tuesday along with the Upward State coalition itself in dual press conferences in Harrisburg and State College.

Cocco, McHugh and Schuyler do not enter the alumni trustee race as the best-known or most heavily-financed candidates.

The 2014 field also includes longtime incumbent trustees Jesse Arnelle and Joel Myers; and such anti-incumbent heavyweights as former state Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer, and retired CEO of student lending giant Sallie Mae, Al Lord.

"The reality is that for today's students… issues like the NCAA sanctions and lawsuits are not top of mind," said Harris, in promising to work toward keeping Penn State affordable and continuing to make the trustees more open and accessible.

The new group does offer its own brand of change, however.

Asked about not endorsing alumni incumbents Arnelle and Myers in this year's race, Jim Carnes, a former president of the Penn State Alumni Association, said coalition members "were looking for fresh faces and a probably a younger perspective."

Arnelle, a member of Penn State's Class of 1955, has been on the board since 1969. Myers, a member of the Class of 1961, was elected to the board in 1981.

A third alumni member, Marianne Alexander, is not seeking re-election this year.

Two of the Upward State nominees, McHugh and Schuyler, graduated in the 1980s; Cocco graduated in 2008.

The Upward State candidates also have their own appeal to legendary head football coach Joe Paterno's many fans: They say they do support acknowledging Paterno's "significant role in building Penn State's legacy of academic and athletic excellence."

Cocco, in addition, said he is open to future efforts to win restoration of the football wins vacated by the NCAA.

But the Upward Bound candidates all said a key difference between them and the recently-elected alumni trustees like Anthony Lubrano, Ryan McCombie and Adam Taliaferro - all active plaintiffs in the Paterno-led suit against the remaining NCAA sanctions on Penn State football - is that they would never sue the university.

Lubrano and his co-plaintiffs did not initially list Penn State among their defendants. But they added the university to the case earlier this year after the presiding judge stated he would throw out the heart of their case without them.

Lubrano said Tuesday he rejects the description of he and his allies' agenda for the board as "narrow and negative."

While he makes no apologies for his anger at the lack of due process granted by his predecessors to Paterno, Lubrano said getting resolution of those issues will ultimately lead to more alumni who are actively engaged in supporting their alma mater, financially and otherwise.

And in the meantime, he added, "we are doing the business of Penn State. I don't know if they've noticed that."

A spokesman for PS4RS said Upward State's very emergence is an affirmation of her group, which will hold its own on-line "primary" later this month to arrive at its own slate for the spring election.

"There is clearly a significant dissatisfaction with the board of trustees when we now see even more Penn State alumni 28 months later joining together with the express purpose of unseating the incumbents," said Maribeth Roman Schmidt.

But Schmidt also contested Upward State supporters' suggestion that PS4RS's pre-eminent goals of "finding the truth" about the Sandusky scandal is counter-productive.

"By working to uncover the truth about the mishandling of the Sandusky scandal and ultimately restoring an unfairly blemished Penn State brand, PS4RS is every bit about what's best for the students: past, present and future," Schmidt said.

Balloting for this year's alumni seats will open on April 10 and run through the morning of May 8.

Results will be announced at the board of trustees meeting later that weekend.

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